Really...PAYING for a Dog Park?

So, Ben  and I were really excited to take our two dogs to the off leash dog park that's about 30 minutes from us. We used to do this at our old duty station frequently, and our routine was to go get coffee, spend about an hour or more at the dog park and then take the girls for a walk to really wear them out. It was a fun, inexpensive way to spend the day. We were so excited when we learned that there is a dog park close by here as well!

I go and look the park up online this morning to make sure we know where it is and the rules/regulations etc. only to find out that they REQUIRE a paid membership to use the park. You have to have a friggin' KEY CARD to get in! And you are REQUIRED to do a minimum of 4 hours community service at the park to keep your membership (yeah, how are they going to keep track of that). So, no dice on that. Especially because you can't go there, pay the fee, and get in that day. You have to either mail in a check or contact them and hope that they get back to you, and then you have to wait for your card to get to you. By the time that all of that happens  Ben  will be deployed!

On to plan B... Ben 's looking at "hiking" in the area. Of course, we're from the NW, so this won't be the kind of hiking we're used to, but it might be something. The only problem there: He's looking at 4.5 mile hikes...I went on a short walk with my MIL the other day and got sciatica! How on earth does he think I'm going to make it 4.5 miles...and it might rain today (oh hell, it will rain, who am I kidding!).

Maybe this is the universe's way of telling me to stay at home snuggled on the couch with the dogs...